Little Red Riding Hood (and other ominous tales)
My Legendary Self Continued
In the Legend painting process from the lovely and talented Shiloh Sophia McCloud we are discovering our Muse and the wisdom she has for us. We began by talking about Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf. (I’ll explain why in a minute). So naturally when my Muse was playing Hide and Seek with me, and I couldn’t get a look at her under her cloak to see her face, Little Red’s cloak became hers. So here she is at Step 10 of the 13 step process. But what I want to talk about today is the fairy tale.
Unnamed Legend (WIP)
48” x 60” Acrylic on Canvas
Do you remember those old, old fairy tales from your childhood?
Jack and the Bean Stalk. Hansel and Gretel. The Emperor’s New Clothes. The Shoemaker and the Elves. And of course all the ones made into feature films that get soundtracks and merchandized.
Have you ever really stopped to listen to what they’re really telling kids? Give me The Paper Bag Princess any day.
Back to Little Red Riding Hood. I bet this story was told to little children as a way to get them to pay attention and follow directions or face the consequences. In case you’re not familiar with this story, Little Red is on a mission to take a basket to her grandmother who lives alone in the woods. She’s told to stay on the path. When she doesn’t, she attracts the attention of a talking wolf, who beats her to Grandma’s and disguises himself as the old lady to fool her into getting close enough to eat.
There are various endings to this story: Little Red gets eaten by the Wolf, she get saved by a guy with a big ol’ axe, the Wolf eats both her and Grandma, but barfs them back up unscathed. There’s even one where the Wolf chokes on her hood.
Here’s an ending I bet you haven’t heard, unless you are in the Intentional Creativity community.
Before I tell you, think about these questions in relation to the fairy tales you know. Who is rich? Who has power? Who has to do nasty labour? How are the stories resolved? Hold those thoughts.
Now back to the new ending. Little Red convinces the Wolf that she’d be tastier if she went to the outhouse first. He, of course, doesn’t want to let her out of his sight because she’d run away into the woods. So she hatches a brilliant plan - she says he can hold onto a thread from her cloak, that way he can stay in the warm cabin, while holding onto her so she doesn’t get away. Wolf buys it. Little Red unravels the whole cloak and by the time he realizes something is wrong, she has gotten away.
Little Red has saved herself
I love this retelling. Little Red has saved herself by using her smarts and physical endurance to run far away quickly. See the difference here? Cinderella scours floors before being rescued by a prince. Snow White looks after 7 little men, falls asleep under a spell, then is rescued by a prince. Beauty is forced to live with an oppressive angry beast, who happens to be a prince. Rapunzel is locked away and then rescued by…wait for it…a prince.
Let’s tick off some of the characteristics of these make believe guys. King Midas is greedy. The Emperor is vain and gullible. Jack climbs the bean stalk and steals from the giant. Beast has a temper. Rumpelstiltskin locks up women. Not the most endearing characters.
How would you rewrite these stories?
How would you reimagine fairy tales so they still have value while updating them from their patriarchal origins? Or do you abandon them completely? What are your favourite modern fairy tales?
The other thing I love about the Little Red Riding Hood retelling is the part about the Red Thread. That’s part of the brilliance of Shiloh Sophia McCloud, being able to both change the ending, uplift women, and tie it all together with a red bow. The Red Thread is an important icon of connection for thousands of women artists around the world. There are Red Thread stories in most cultures. We use it in Intentional Creativity as a circle builder, a quantum connector, a sign of belonging, and a recognition that we all have a part to play.
And now it brings a fairy tale into the 21st century. How cool is that.
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